I cut it short(just once) and let it go white, I have done the growing out several times as I was white at 30 (totally grey at 21 or so), and then re coloured when I hated it. The short cut wasn’t a great moment but it worked out OK once it grew out. I still don’t enjoy the white hair look and will tone it now and again to give it some depth (it won’t take a proper color). Even now if I could make it hold an ashy blonde I would do it, but it just won’t work for me (so much processing leaves it breaking horribly). I love those pics of photoshopped grey olive skinned mavens, show me a pudgy ruddy faced middle aged woman! Success is what you make it I suppose. My choice was color it and go bald, or have white hair. The trouble as even per this thread is that different things work for different people. As I wasn’t just unhappy about roots, but the actual ability of the product to deposit on my very resistant hair, it wasn’t really an actual choice. Coloring yourself at home is really cheap and easy if it works for you, product options are terrific, if it just about cost.
Have no success story, but I am paying attention to this thread. about 95% gray, at 56. Mine is close to white. I have one of those husbands who looks about 12, so I “worry” about going natural too. I color at home, and have to do it about every 3-4 weeks. Good luck, and report back to us.
It really isn’t hair color that ages you as much as it is the neck and face. I can usually get pretty close to real age just looking at necks. Non-white hair ages women that are far older if the color is not natural because skin, lips and eyes fade in the elderly and darker hair just emphasizes that in my opinion. I am all about aging with grace.
I started the process of going natural last summer. I grew up with naturally very dark hair, and had dyed it dark brown sine my 20s, when I started to have very noticeable gray.
So first, I used Color Oops to strip as much dark dye out of my hair as possible. My hair was shoulder length at the time. Then I bleached it twice. Then I dyed it a light ash blonde. My main irritation with dark hair was the skunk stripe that was noticeable 2 weeks after coloring it. So anyway, at that point I was a shoulder length ash blonde. It was really fun! I’ve never had light hair in my life, and it was a shock every morning when I looked in the mirror.
At that point, I never dyed it again. I did tone it as it grew out since some of the ash color would turn yellowish.When I toned it, it would look grayish-white all over. There was no noticeable stripe as it grew out. As it continued to grow out, I went to my haircut place and had them layer it bob length, above my shoulders. Now it is 3-4 inches long, and only has a small amount of ash color left. My natural color is now white in the front with a few dark hairs mixed in, and more dark mixed in with the gray in the back. I have a couple of narrow streaks of dark on one side. It’s interesting to see what was really under there all these years.
My H also looks about 12, so I resisted doing this in the past because of that. But I decided I’ve had enough home coloring, and since gray is sort of “in” now, it was the perfect opportunity to try it out.
I love it, and have no intention of going back. (You can probably find a prior post where I said I would dye my hair till the very end of my days! I never expected to change my mind, but I did!)
I’ve never colored my hair, so it’s black with silver/grey highlights. H’s hair is white and silver, so I always look (and am) much younger. We are both fine with my hair. My sibs color they’d gaur and haven’t yet opted to stop, so we shall see.
My mother has been having her hair lightened to her teen-aged blond shade ever since I can remember. A few years ago she got tied of that and had her stylist go lighter and lighter until it was nearly white, then went natural. Surprisingly, there are streaks and threads of medium brown now, so the hair color looks younger than five years ago.
Natural blonde here who realized years ago that my early twenties shade had darkened. Now have white at the temples and I am vain enough to have the still dark gold (whatever) hair cover it- no layered cuts for me with my short, easy to care for hair. A lot easier for those of us with lighter hair- less contrast. No way will I have long hair pulled back from my face to show off the white. Nor can I afford to pull out what used to be an occasional white hair- H has noted them, sigh.
On another related note. Adult son not that long ago looked at me and commented- “You do have eyebrows”. Well, yeah, they’re light and hidden by my glasses, but yes, they have always been there.
Style Edit (thumper mentioned it) is amazing. I use the powder and it tackles my part line easily (and more, but the part line and temples are the most obvious.) I changed my darker brown coloring to include a lot of blonde highlights and love it. The idea was to make the contrast between the brown and the grey less. It does. Only issue is now I need the stylist.
My emotional age is still too young for all grey, though I admire those women who are white-grey and look so elegant.
Thanks so much for sharing all of these experiences.
My hair is dark and the contrast is extreme. If I grew out my gray, I’m sure I would have streaks. Now it just looks like clumps of white.
One of the clumps is near my face, at the part, so it is very noticeable within a week of getting my hair colored. My stylist said she was going to do that area around my face lighter last time to help with the contrast, but it doesn’t seem lighter at all. She dropped the warm tone around my face, too, because the contrast between the reddish tone and white is awful. It would probably be an improvement just to let that streak grow in if nothing else.
@thumper1 and @lookingforward mentioned StyleEdit and I got it after reading about it on CC about a year ago. It does help. But it can be hard to get all the roots covered and not get it on my scalp around my forehead. If my hair is down, it’s easier but with my life with puppies, I often have to pull it back.
One tip with the StyleEdit is to use a shine spray after applying it. The effect of StyleEdit is very matte and it’s a noticeable contrast with my shiny hair which is more obvious when the roots get long. The shine spray helps it look more natural.
Every time I think I’m going to grow it out, there something special coming up on the calendar and I get afraid of looking freaky.
I’m going to be one of those people who color for a long time! When we visited South Africa this year, our friend had gone gray. Yikes. She looked so much older! I just can’t go there yet.
Another thing…my stylist only uses organic hair color. I like the idea of it but I don’t like the result as much. And it’s more expensive. I still get a deal because she does it at her house.
My friend uses a brand she gets at Walmart with the root touch up in between and her hair looks great.
I’ve never colored my hair .Too old to start now!
organic hair color.<<<<<<<<<<
That isn't even a thing.
Depositing color on resistant hair usually means you need more ammonia, not less. This usually means you can only have darker shades, not a light blond deposit that seems so logical. As you are not getting a good result and you are not happy, ask her to get a product that works for you. How much are you paying? My stylist (not color) worked from her home and the price was the same as in a salon.
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My hair is dark and the contrast is extreme.<<<<<<<<<<
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The point is, YOUR hair isn’t dark, your dye is dark, that at the very least needs to change. If you are committed to coloring I would try finding a different colorist and get to a much lighter shade. That might be an expensive and time consuming couple of appointments but it probably gets you to a better shade for regrowth. What is your actual color shade numerically?
My sister did it the hard way: lost her hair due to chemo and it’s grown back curly and salt and pepper. Beautiful! I retired at the end of June and had a color just before leaving on our long trip at the end of July. While there, I watched another client get her hair colored gray to ease the process. It sounded like it would gradually grow in so further coloring won’t be needed. Something I’ll look into
My plan had always been to get my hair cut off after retirement and then let it grow in gray. After finding a great stylist who handles my curls and gets the color right, I’m putting that off til I turn 60 in 3 years.
One of my mom’s friend’s hair grew back dark brown after losing it to chemo. She’s in her 80s!
@Sybylla I don’t know what makes hair color “organic”, but it seems to be a “thing” of some kind. There are a few salons around here that offer it. My mom reacts to all dye but can tolerate organic better.
My hair is very dark, the kind of dark brown people call black. It’s actually darker than my dyed hair color which is a medium brown with reddish tint. So when it grows in I have a line of black mixed with clumps of white. Not very pretty.
I pay $50 for coloring now that it’s organic, but that’s really just for my roots. I haven’t done more that in many months. It’s much less expensive than if I go to the higher end salon where my stylist works most days of the week.